Dr. Teyze

Anna Grace was sick last week...again! It seems like she has something different wrong with her every other week. Well last week she came in my room in the middle of the night saying she had thrown up in her bed. Awww man. I hate cleaning up throw up, but I especially hate it in the middle of the night. Well, she wasn't kidding. She had thrown up all over the top bunk of her bed and had managed to get it in her hair. Awww man. I took her to the bathroom and tried to figure out what to do. Our hot water heater had been taken in for servicing that day and wouldn't be returned until the following evening so there was no hot water. I decided to use the hot pot and boil some water to mix with the cold water so I could at least wash the ends of her hair. After getting her hair somewhat clean I put her on the bottom bunk and took all the stuff off of the top bunk. I rinsed the bedding off in the bathtub and then let it sit there until we had hot water the next evening. So 45 minutes after being awakened I went back to bed. About an hour later Anna Grace came in and told me she had thrown up again...thankfully in the bucket I gave her for that purpose. I cleaned out the bucket and went back to bed. Actually by this point I knew I wouldn't be sleeping well, and our bedroom was hot as blazes so I decided to sleep in the living room. Anna Grace came in at least two more times to report that she had thrown up again. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night. The next day our house helper came to work so I explained why there was a pile of bedding in the bathtub. By this point Anna Grace wasn't throwing up anymore, but she was running a fever. I took her temperature and it was 103. I couldn't believe it. I gave her some Tylenol, and she slept most of the day. Our house helper started to tell me what she thought had made Anna Grace sick. She kept talking about this "white powder" that had probably been the cause of it all. I had no idea what she was talking about and my mind started thinking...arsenic, anthrax, cocaine...what is she talking about? She finally went and got the box of sidewalk chalk off the balcony and said that the dust from the chalk was dangerous and could cause high fevers. The children in Turkish schools aren't allowed to touch the chalk, because it could make them sick. Only the teachers were allowed to use it. My first thoughts were "that is the craziest thing I have ever heard" and then "what in the world is Turkish chalk made of that could be so dangerous". Out of respect for her I just listened and nodded. I didn't tell her that my chalk was from America and that I could pretty much guarantee that there was no way it could have caused the problems. Later that evening we started Anna Grace on an antibiotic and told her not to play with the sidewalk chalk when "teyze" was here.